


A Dog of Ill Repute

by exarite



Series: Spooky Shippy Stories 2018 [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Accidents, F/M, Lots of scenes where people die, Minor Character Death, Sickness, Surgery, Temporary Character Death, as a doctor, but also Sakura saves people’s lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-06 21:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16395008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exarite/pseuds/exarite
Summary: They called it the Grim. An omen of death reputed to bring about the demise of the person who encounters it.Sakura took great joy in stealing back souls right under his nose.





	A Dog of Ill Repute

**Author's Note:**

> prompt by kibounokuro: grim Kakashi
> 
> Day 3 of my Spooky Shippy Stories, aka 7 Days of MultiSaku Halloween

"We're losing him."

Sakura shook her head, her lips thinning into a flat line. Her patient was losing blood too quickly, heedless to Sakura's attempts. Her gloved hands were slick with blood, steady as Sakura dug in inside the mess of intestines, searching for damage that needed to be repaired.

"Heartrate dropping, he's losing too much blood."

A dark form seemed to spill from the shadows, solidifying into a giant, black dog. Sakura ignored it, her eyes fixed and focused on closing up the open mess of guts left from the bullet.

The Grim did nothing, only sat down and observed with half-lidded eyes.

Sakura grit her teeth.

She was not going to let it win.

*

For a long time now, Sakura has been haunted by the Grim. Sometimes, the people she was with saw it too. But mostly, it only showed itself to Sakura.

She was 16 the first time she encountered it, and there were already stories of what they had begun to call the Grim. These were new stories, but they were numerous. She didn't believe them at first, but with how many people that claimed Death came after the Grim, she couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to it.

Her friends described it to her as a monstrous black dog with mismatched eyes, and they claimed that she would know it if she saw it. It was unmistakable, they said. It's not like any dog I've ever seen!

And Sakura knew now that they were right. She stepped on the brakes, barely avoiding crashing into a pole as she stared at the giant black dog-like creature on the side of the road.

She would be hard pressed to call this creature a dog, even if it looked like one. There was just something distinctly un-doglike about it, something that sent shivers down her spine. Hair rose at the back of her neck, a cold sweat dripping down her back.

It was only a glimpse that day, but Sakura knew what she had seen. She believed now.

Because only a few minutes later, she passed by a car crash. A truck had slammed into a car, instantly killing two.

She had seen the Grim, and she had seen Death.

It didn't make sense, she thought to herself. An omen of death, in their little village? Where had it come from? It must be a silly little correlation. But stories after stories came. People who claimed to see the Grim and died the next day of a heart attack. Others who glimpsed it, and then had come across an accident where people had died.

Slowly, she started to believe.

And even slower, she started to form the bare bones of a resolution.

What right did it have?

If she saw the Grim again, she would do something, Sakura swore. She wouldn't let it take another life

*

"He's stable."

Sakura almost collapsed in relief. She's been in surgery for almost five hours now, and for two of them, she had to perform while the Grim had sat less than five feet away from her. She hadn't felt pressure like that in ages, every move analyzed and deliberated as the Grim had simply watched and observed.

A wrong move could have killed her patient.

But she was done, her patient was stable, and all she had to do now was sew him back up.

She looked up to where the Grim had been sitting, and found the spot undisturbed. There was no hint of the Grim's presence. It was like it was never there. Sakura could feel herself relax, the pressure easing off her shoulders. Kinda hard to be optimistic when an omen of death was staring at you, really. Sakura made do.

She cracked her neck, and got down to finishing up the surgery.

When she had made that promise to herself many years ago, she knew that she'd be going into emergency medicine. It was her calling. It had taken years of studying, sleepless nights, plenty of tears, but finally, finally, Sakura was in the position to make a difference.

Not many saw the Grim. Was it a blessing or a curse that Sakura saw it?

It was no longer a symbol of certain death to her, but the possibility of it. Sure, she had lost patients while the Grim had watched, but she had also saved plenty. Loss was inevitable in life, especially one in medicine.

But no one was destined to die. Not on her watch.

*

  
"Sakura!"

Ino reached out to grab her arm.

"What?" Sakura asked, turning her head just a little bit, one eye still on the road. Ino was deathly pale, an expression of utmost fear on her face that Sakura was immediately concerned, pressing on the brakes to slow down.

Ino said nothing, only pointed with a trembling hand. Slowly, Sakura looked to the side off the road, almost hidden by the trees.

A hulking, black form in the shape of a dog was on the side of the road. Sakura's breath hitched, her grip tightening on the wheel. Its head turned towards them, glowing, mismatched eyes piercing through the distance. One black, and another a crimson red, a scar running through it. Sakura was struck with paralyzing fear. It didn't matter how many times she saw it. Every time, Sakura would still be afraid.

"It's the Grim," Ino whispered in horror.

The Grim seemed to regard them, and around her, time slowed. Her heartbeat was loud in her chest, tunnel vision narrowing down to the Grim’s unnatural eyes.

In reality, it must have been only a second before the Grim turned back towards the forest. It gave her a look as if beckoning her to follow and then bounded away.

Sakura shook off her fear, swallowing it down to the deepest parts of her where it belonged before she straightened up, pressed on the gas, and directed the car to the side of the road where the Grim was.

"Sakura…” Ino's voice wavered. She was pale. “What are you doing? Someone’s going to die.”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Sakura asked, pursing her lips. “If no one helps them then they will die.”

Ino’s jaw tightened, but at Sakura’s resolute look, nodded. As Sakura pulled off the road and parked, Sakura could hear her going through some calming, breathing exercises. Sakura tried to settle her mind into calm, brain already going through a litany of things she needed to do in case she found someone injured.

"First aid kit in front of you," she said briskly and Ino nodded sharply beside her. Sakura opened the car door beside her and slipped out, the click of the glove compartment letting her know that Ino had gotten the kit. It wasn't fully stocked, but it was good enough. If not, Sakura could improvise.

She stared down the forest, eyes scanning it for clues as to where the Grim had gone.

"There," Ino said, touching her gently to catch her attention. She pointed to a fresh set of tracks, giant pawprints on the dirt marking a path. Sakura thought that she must have overestimated the size of the supernatural dog creature, but the length and width of those pawprints just proved how huge it really was.

They say those who encountered the Grim encountered Death soon after. Some who saw the Grim died soon themselves, and others became witness to accidents, the death of others. This wasn't the first time that Sakura had seen the Grim, but it was always a toss-up which one it would be then. Now wasn't any different. Was the Grim an omen of death for Sakura and Ino, or just a sign that they would see death or something like it soon?

Ino had every reason to be scared and want to just keep on driving. Sakura could very well be leading them into their death at this moment. And yet, Sakura thought, if the Grim had shown itself to them because they were meant to die, then whose to say that their death wouldn't have resulted from them continuing their drive? What if they had kept driving and then gotten into a car crash?

Sakura touched her chest, soothing herself. She couldn't have mistaken the look it had given her. It had wanted her to follow.

"Let's go."

*

Ino kept close to her as they journeyed deeper into the forest, the trees thickening, the world around them darkening. The branches and the leaves above them were closer in distance now, only trickles of light making its way down to the forest floor.

Beside her, Ino pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight, allowing them to see the final tracks of the Grim.

"There's nothing," Ino muttered, turning around. This was where the tracks ended, and there was nothing. No Grim. No people. Just them.

Sakura swallowed down the tightness in her throat, her legs tight with the urge to run, run, run. She felt tense with uncertainty and fear, so sure now that she had led both her and Ino to their deaths.

A black form slipped through the trees in front of them, appearing as though it had come from the shadows. Sakura held her breath, taking a step back, almost stumbling into Ino.

The Grim regarded her, intelligent eyes dropping down to the first aid kit that Sakura was holding. There was no aggression in its stance, just simple curiosity. It turned around and started back into the forest, Sakura struck unable to move.

This was the closest that she had ever been to the Grim, and seeing it now… It was unmistakable how it wasn't a dog. It was distinctly supernatural, and the fear people had for it was rightfully held.

When it saw that neither of them had moved, the Grim turned back. It seemed... expectant almost. As if it wanted them to follow.

Sakura and Ino shared a look.

Well. They were already here. What was following a giant dog creature deeper into the forest?

They made a move towards it, and Sakura didn't know if she was imagining it, but satisfaction glinted in its mismatched eyes. It started onwards again, this time with Ino and Sakura following. Its lithe black form slipped in between the trees easily, almost like it was liquid, or as if it was traveling through the shadows. Sakura couldn't look at it for too long without her brain starting to hurt.

Deeper and deeper, it led them into the forest, until--

Light broke through the trees. A clearing, Sakura realized. It was brighter here than the rest of the forest, and near the edge, there was a small form laying against the tree.

Sakura stepped closer towards it, her eyes wide. It was a child, heavily injured, and when he saw them, he promptly burst into tears.

The Grim slipped past Sakura, and at the sight of it, fear filled the little boy's eyes.

"No," he moaned, "Stay away."

The Grim seemed to hear and understand, padding away back into the forest. If Sakura looked closely at the darkness of where he had gone, she could see its mismatched glowing eyes watching her.

"Hey," Ino said softly, and her steps are slow and non-threatening as she made her way to the child. She reached out her hand. "My name is Ino. What happened?"

The boy sniffled a bit, but he seemed calmer now that the Grim was gone, although still very much in pain. "I just wanted to climb the tree," he cried, rubbing chubby fists over his eyes. "I fell, and then the Grim came, and--and--and I don't want to die!"

"You're fine," Sakura soothed, already pulling out what she needed from her kit. She could already see the results of the boy's fall, badly broken bones that poked out his skin. She swallowed. The fall may not have killed him, but his injuries... He was so deep in the forest. Sakura and Ino certainly would have gotten lost in it if it weren't for the Grim. Help wouldn't have found him for a very long time.

And with his legs broken, and who knew what else, the boy wouldn't have been able to get up and walk and search for help himself. If the blood loss hadn't killed him, the exposure when the night fell or the other creatures in the forest might have.

"We'll bring you to the hospital, okay?" Ino said calmly and the boy nodded, still sobbing a bit. It took some delicate maneuvering to carry him, the wrong move or jostle sending him crying out, but time was of the essence. There was little they could do with their kit aside from stem the blood loss.

Sakura wondered to herself just how they were going to make their way back to the car. She chewed on her lip worriedly, looking around the clearing. And--there!

The Grim watched her, and then made a move back through where they had come from. Sakura relaxed, exhaling a bit in relief. Silently, the three of them followed the Grim back out of the forest.

When they had finally made it back to her car, Sakura glanced back. She saw nothing but shadows, and maybe if she looked a little closer... the glint of a crimson eye.

*

That wasn’t the act of an omen of death.

Sakura swirled the wine in her glass, thoughtful and quiet even as her friends chatted around her. It had brought Ino and her to the boy. The boy was probably only alive because of the Grim.

But why?

A few of her friends had seen the Grim once or twice, but they didn’t see it nearly every day like Sakura.

And for all the times that Sakura had seen the Grim, she had never once seen it aggressive towards her. She has never seen it done anything that would actively result in death. It was merely a bystander, just like her, albeit one attracted to upcoming deaths.

And if seeing the Grim truly meant seeing death, then how did that explain all the times Sakura had saved lives after seeing it? How did it explain it helping them?

All this time, Sakura had been laboring under the assumption that the dog creature was a harbinger of death but… what if it was just a warning?

*

Grandmother Yuuko was one of their older patients. She was going through a rough bout with pneumonia, and at her age, sometimes that meant death. Kidney failure had quickly followed until she was all but bedridden.

Sakura could feel it coming. She knew. Grandmother Yuuko knew. Her children and grandchildren knew too.

There was a stage in healthcare where there was nothing to be done, and the only path left was palliative care. Sakura never saw herself as one that provided that sort of care, but she admired the nurses and doctors who did it.

All they could do was make her comfortable and provide as much relief as they could from the pain. Arrangements had been made, and her family visited her as much as they could.

She didn’t have to be there with her, but Grandmother Yuuko had expressed her fears of dying alone. She had a constant stream of visitors, but there were moments where she had no one.

When Grandmother Yuuko’s breathing begun to change, a death rattle that only highlighted the inevitability of her passing, Sakura knew it was soon.

She held Grandmother Yuuko's hand and sat by her. For so long, she had fought against death, against the Grim, and it was moments like these that she felt useless. She could do nothing but let nature play out.

Grandmother Yuuko's eyes drifted somewhere to the right, and behind Sakura, the heart rate monitors picked up. Sakura looked up, and it was with resignation that her shoulders slumped when she saw the form of the Grim, half-hidden by the shadows of the corner.

The Grim prowled through the short space between the wall and the bed. Sakura's grip tightened on Grandmother Yuuko's hand, but strangely enough, she didn't seem scared. A small smile curled up her wrinkled cheeks.

The Grim jumped up on the bed. Sakura stiffened, she couldn't help but eye it warily, wondering what it might do. She didn't think that it would attack, or anything. She already viewed the Grim much differently after it had helped save that boy. But still, it was hard to erase years of fear.

And yet, her fears were once again unfounded as the Grim simply padded over to Grandmother Yuuko's side and laid down next to her, his snout propped up on her chest. He looked at her, half-lidded mismatched eyes.

"Wait," Sakura said softly.

They waited until Grandmother Yuuko's family came, and it was only then that the Grim let her go.

*

Sakura should have known that her luck would run out soon. For all the times she's seen the Grim, it's never really been for her. It was always other people's lives in danger, and maybe that made it easier to face the Grim every day. A little part of her knew that one day, it could always be her, but a bigger part of her had become complacent.

The Grim seemed to follow her throughout the day. At first, Sakura thought little of it, her eyes catching on its black form and wondering if there was something to be done. But unlike before with the boy, the Grim didn't make any motion calling her. It did nothing to get her to follow him.

Strangely enough, it seemed to stay close to her. Inch by inch, as she made her way through her day, until at one point, it walked right beside her, silent and serious. 

Sakura gave it a bemused look, but the Grim ignored her, only stayed pressed up to her side. It was big enough that even walking on four legs, its head reached up Sakura's shoulder. Despite that, people seemed to instinctively avoid her, the crowd parting around her and the Grim even as their eyes slid right past it.

She made her way through the crowd, unscathed and confused. So far, there's been no one in need of medical help. No accidents. Nothing that would justify the Grim's presence.

The Grim stayed with her even as she left the crowds, turning to the road before her house. She had a moment of peace, and then it was abruptly ruined when a man in a hooded jacket stepped up in front of her, gun in hand.

Oh, Sakura thought. So this is how I die.

"Give me all your money," he demanded, hands shaking on the gun, and desperate eyes were barely hidden under his hood. And Sakura was no fool. Slowly, she handed him her bag. This was it, she thought. Beside her, the Grim was tense and silent, its warm form shaking slightly at her side.

But that wasn't it.

She didn’t understand what happened at first, only registered the squeal of car wheels a street away, saw the panic flash in the young man's eyes, and then--

A gunshot cracked through the silence of the night.

*

"Sakura? What are you thinking about?"

Sakura's lips thinned and she took another long sip of her wine. She shrugged. "I was thinking about the Grim. Where did you think it came from?"

"Well, they say it's first victim was Hatake Kakashi," Naruto intoned in an exaggerated, spooky voice. "And until now… his body was never found!"

The people around them snickered, but Sakura stayed silent.

"My father said that it's born from death and despair, but my brother thinks that the Grim was cursed by an angry spirit, trapped in dog's body for the rest of its life."

"Does it really matter?" Sasuke scoffed, rolling his eyes. "The Grim is death and destruction. Who cares where it's from?"

Sakura looked away. She did.

*

The scream was ripped out of her, and she fell to her knees, her eyes wide with shock. The young man fled.

"No," Sakura gasped, her hands reaching out to press against the Grim's side. There was a pool of blood steadily leaking out from its side, staining her hands red. "No…"

The Grim turned its mismatched eyes towards her, pain visible in its features. It whined, low and mournful, and Sakura's heart broke.

"Hold on," she begged, choking through the panic as she tried in vain to stem the blood. She was a doctor, wasn't she? She was supposed to be able to help. She was supposed to save its life.

But she had no phone. She had nothing.

He died in her arms.

*

There were rumors going around.

The Grim is gone, they whispered. The Grim is dead!

Sakura stayed silent. 

.

.

.

.

.

"Hello," a voice rasped, and Sakura looked up. She froze. His hair was silver, a mask over the bottom half of his face, and-- _his eyes_. They were mismatched, one crimson and another a dark black, a scar running over his crimson eye.

"Hello," Sakura whispered.

The man pulled down his mask, and Sakura's heart stuttered at the sight of sharp teeth and fangs.

"My name is Kakashi."

**Author's Note:**

> So u know how Absols in pokemon r considered disaster pokemon bcos they warn ppl of natural disasters but ppl associate that stuff w them so they wrongly accuse Absol of being the one to bring about the natural disasters? Yah that's my interpretation of grim Kakashi
> 
> i'm on [Tumblr!](senju-sandwich.tumblr.com) tomorrow will be NejiSaku!!!!


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